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30 July 2024

Cody’s Story – Housing

Turning her childhood love of horses into a career, Cody Cooke, 21, works as a groom at Robert Cowell Racing in Six Mile Bottom, just outside Newmarket, and benefits from accommodation provided by Racing Welfare’s charity housing provider, Racing Homes. Cody has been a tenant at MacDonald Buchanan House in Newmarket since March 2023, and had previously lived in tied-accommodation as part of her job, which she had to vacate after being made redundant.

 

MacDonald Buchanan House is a dedicated young people’s accommodation facility comprising of 18 recently renovated fully-furnished bedsits. It offers supported accommodation for 18-24 year olds, with tenants benefitting from a Racing Welfare project worker to help with life skills to prepare them for moving into private accommodation at the end of their tenancy.

 

Cody said: “I really like living here as we’re all a similar age, we all work in racing and we all get on really well. Because of this I feel settled here and the support I get from Rachel [Young Person Project Officer at Racing Welfare] is brilliant. I was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD at the age of 6 and tasks like organisation and budgeting are really difficult for me, so Rachel has helped me with council tax payments and making sure I keep my accommodation clean and tidy.

 

“The rent here is affordable which makes so much difference to me as a young person working in racing. It means I can pay my rent and bills and save in preparation for moving into private accommodation but also be able to socialise too – if I was just working and saving then I wouldn’t be able to go out and that wouldn’t be good for my mental health.

 

“The working hours are tough in racing as we start early and work weekends and public holidays when most people are off, but seeing everyone else here going to work early definitely makes it easier – there’s a great sense of community. There’s always someone I can go and talk to, and we all make an effort to look after each other.”

 

Racing Homes owns and manages 165 properties across racing centres including: Newmarket, Lambourn, Epsom, Malton and Middleham, with the majority of accommodation located in Newmarket. The aim is to provide safe, affordable housing to those in the horseracing community who would otherwise find it difficult to compete in the private rented sector at stages in their life when they need it most.

 

While there is a small amount of housing available to working age staff, the key focus is to provide housing to older, largely retired people from the horseracing industry and to young people (18-24) who are starting out in their horseracing careers.

To find out more, and see the housing schemes available, go to https://racingwelfare.co.uk/racing-homes/ The Racing Homes waiting lists are currently open to join for both older and young person schemes, including MacDonald Buchanan House.